The league understandably believed the old logo was dated and that a “ball and cleat” design was unnecessary to symbolize soccer. To demonstrate this train of thought, MLS’s CMO Howard Handler explained how the Apple logo illustrated technology without actually featuring anything remotely correlated with technology in logo. When you realize that MLS was going for Apple-type feel to its logo then this begins to make more sense. For those wondering what this design represents it is described in the quote below,

The spare design, called the “MLS Crest,” comes in the colors of the U.S. and Canada and features three stars that represent the ideals displayed by the Portland tifo – community, club and country. The diagonal line “captures the fast-paced nature of the game and a league that’s on the rise,” and emerges from the bottom of the shield to “create a little bit of extra energy,” Handler said.

According to MLS the crest will also come in many different color schemes and each color scheme will match up with each MLS club’s color scheme. Therefore, an LA Galaxy uniform will feature an MLS crest with LA Galaxy colors, a NY Red Bulls uniform will feature an MLS crest with Red Bulls colors etc.

Source: ProSoccerTalk

While I understand the new logo and MLS’s push to better establish their brand I can’t help thinking that this is just change for the sake of change. Some may blame that train of thought on nostalgia but I believe that is just pigeonholing the argument. The MLS logo could be described as archaic but so too can the MLB and NBA logo (The NHL and NFL logos aren’t too modern either). If a league lasts long enough I feel like it at some point their logo becomes archaic but it also becomes so synonymous with the league itself that it becomes untouchable. MLS has only been around almost twenty years but that is still history and the best leagues can point to their roots to justify their existence and popularity. The new logo is not ugly but it also seems a little bit too manufactured as if MLS is trying too hard to be cutting edge. There’s the possibility this grows on me but I still think it was a mistake. At the end of the day, this is just a logo, it cannot improve or degrade the quality of soccer in MLS so even if it fails to catch on it will be largely irrelevant if the league continues to grow.